In an increasingly disrupted world, individuals and community organisations are working hard to make Aotearoa a little better every day. This new series shines a light on them.

A gentle breeze rustles the fronds of nīkau palms overhead. The sun is shining and a fountain babbles away. People are sitting on the steps alongside it, chatting. The lilting voices of a street choir fill Freyberg Place. Just next door, inside the Ellen Melville Centre, the Sunday Blessings team are serving dinner to Auckland’s street whānau.

“When I see our elders in particular on the streets, it makes me want to cry,” says Danielle LeGallais, co-founder of Sunday Blessings. She’s two papers away from her business degree, a practicing lawyer and mum to two boys. “I’ve been homeless many, many times,” she says.

Since starting Sunday Blessings in 2018, Danielle and her team have served over 200,000 Sunday meals to Auckland’s street whānau. Many people come every week for dinner and there’s actually a waitlist to volunteer.

The Sunday Blessings mission is to reduce Auckland CBD food poverty and waste, through a collaborative approach to food rescue and food distribution. One of their key partners in that is Woolworths. Every Sunday, Danielle and her team visit various Woolworths locations to pick up food that is still perfectly good to eat, but can’t be sold in-store – a dented can, for example, or a bruised banana. They then turn that into a beautiful meal to share with anyone who needs it. Sunday Blessings is one of about 30 food rescue organisations that will share $1m+ in Woolworths cash grants this year.

In this episode of ‘A little better every day’, we spend the day with Danielle and Sunday Blessings. From an early morning food pickup, right through to Sunday dinner service.